Nick Rhodes still remembers Duran Duran’s first shows on Canadian soil 40 years ago last month.
“The El Mocambo in Toronto, that whole tour and the first date in Montreal — it was discovery and excitement for us,” the 59-year-old musician said on Thursday.
Duran Duran went on to do 54 more shows at 41 different venues in 12 cities across the country – “and I remember every one of them,” he said. “Edmonton, mostly for its shopping centre. That indoor pool, that definitely left a mark somewhere on my brain.
“We always have fun in Canada. We like the people, we like the lifestyle and it’s been great to play shows there. Every time we come we have a good time.”
But, Duran Duran hasn’t performed in Canada since a 2017 show at the Calgary Stampede. Rhodes gives fans hope for 2022.
“I think, provided all goes well and the world keeps moving forward in the way that we all hope it will then I see no reason whatsoever why Duran Duran won’t be in Canada next year,” he said. “We definitely will be coming if we can tour next year.”
In the meantime, fans old and new can soak up Duran Duran’s 15th studio album, Future Past (out Oct. 22). The 12-track collection is unmistakably Duran Duran – equal parts retro and modern.
“Where I think we’re very lucky is that the Duran Duran sound has very wide parameters,” Rhodes explained. “The very first album, that had tracks like ‘Girls on Film’ and ‘Planet Earth’ on it but it also had an instrumental with an orchestra, ‘Tel Aviv,’ and it also had ‘(Waiting for the) Night Boat’ which was much more atmospheric. So we always feel we’ve got plenty of latitude within an album to maneuver into different areas, genres, sounds. The sonic architecture’s enormously important to us. We love sound and making something that sounds contemporary still remains important."
Rhodes said he and bandmates Simon Le Bon, John Taylor and Roger Taylor have learned to craft songs in different ways as they have grown older.
"When you’re young you have that unbelievable energy that only youth can capture in some ways but as you move through different transitions in your career you do learn other things," he explained. "The goal was to make the ultimate Duran Duran album. Only time will tell that but we’re all pretty pleased with where we got to.”
Photo: John Swannell
Nick Rhodes spoke to iHeartRadio.ca via Zoom to talk about Future Past as well as Duran Duran’s past and future – and his thoughts on venturing into space.
Do you ever stop to reflect on the fact that you have had this incredible 40-year run?
Interestingly, I don’t think we did really think back about it much at all until this album. And finally we reached a point where we all looked at each other and said “Wow, it is actually four decades now.” It seems more like 40 minutes than 40 years.
But, the reason we’re still together is because of our love of music and because we know what we can create together. That when we’re all in a room, something electrical happens that only happens with bands. It doesn’t happen with solo artists – that tension of pulling and tugging in different directions and on a good day something magical can happen. And so we did, in fact, on this album write one song reflecting upon our time together [“Anniversary”]. It’s the first song, really, where we have referenced not just the band but also the sounds we’ve used before and some of the musical motifs are in that song. But that’s really also a song for anyone who’s celebrating anything, whether it’s how long you’ve been with your partner or your cat’s birthday.
Was there ever a time when you thought “This is the last album” or “This is the last tour?”
No. I mean, there’s always a period when you get to the middle of a long tour when you think “I can’t believe we’re not even halfway through yet” because some exhaustion kicks in and you start to feel that you’re on the treadmill a little bit. And then suddenly you get your energy back and you think how great that an audience has shown up to come and see us tonight.
When we get to the show, that couple of hours is always the focus of the entire day and we feel very responsible to do our best for everybody wherever we are. So that part is always a thrill but of course all the travelling and all the other stuff, it takes a toll.
I don’t think any of us want to do anything else particularly and we’re all happy to be in Duran Duran so nobody’s getting rid of us yet.
For the Future Past tracks “Tonight United” and “Beautiful Lies,” Duran Duran collaborated with legendary 81-year-old producer Giorgio Moroder. Rhodes describes the latter song as “probably my personal favourite track on the album.”
Duran Duran covered Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” at your first ever show and 40 years later you worked with its legendary producer Giorgio Moroder. What was that like?
Giorgio Moroder has been one of our great heroes for many, many years. For me, “I Feel Love” is almost the most singular important piece of dance music that ever came out because that was the first song that ever used electronic pulsing and sequencing in that way and the drum sound — that tiny, tight drum sound – at the height of Studio 54. It was enormously influential. And Giorgio has made so many incredible records … and I think his influence is probably underrated by a lot of people. They’ve heard the songs but they don’t realize he’s behind them all.
And so, I don’t know how we managed to have not worked with Giorgio for all those years and he said the same thing when we finally met and worked together because it really was the most perfect combination: Duran Duran and Giorgio Moroder. And what we got out of that was what we really both hoped for, was the perfect fusion of the Moroder sound and the Duran Duran sound.
Future Past includes several guests: Swedish singer-songwriter Tove Lo on “Give It All Up,” English rapper Ivorian Doll on “Hammerhead,” Japan’s CHAI on “More Joy!” and longtime David Bowie band member Mike Garson on “Falling.”
You only started having features on your albums in the last decade or so. What was the decision behind this?
That was just what happened with music. It’s a very modern way forward. Hip hop certainly is more responsible for the features but we quite like it because it gives us an opportunity to change something in the sound. We’re obviously very identified by Simon’s voice on everything we do with the vocal but I love to hear his voice with other people. We found with a lot of female voices it tends to work well.
Tove Lo has done a very powerful feature and I love the way her voice works with Simon’s in the chorus. We wanted a female pop artist but someone who’s a bit darker and she really fit the bill for that song. We had to work remotely but what she sent was really special.
Photo: Jeff Spicer / Getty Images
Duran Duran released “Planet Earth” in 1981, “New Moon on Monday” in 1984 and titled its 2004 album Astronaut. In 2019, the band performed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch.
Would you ever consider going into space on one of the billionaires’ rockets?
I think at some point I would absolutely love to see our Earth from space, yeah. It would be incredible. I don’t know I’d want to be on a very early mission. I don’t love airplanes even, I have to say, even though I’ve been on an awful lot of them. I just have to close my eyes and not think about it.
I don’t know. I’d want to make sure it was so safe first but yeah it would be amazing. Who wouldn’t want to go there?
Is there an update on the musical you have been writing with John [Taylor]? Will we see it soon?
Well, I really do hope so because John and I have now worked on it on and off over about a 10-year period. It’s a very special project to us.
We’ve pretty much finished all the music for it. The story’s in great shape. The next move forward now is to go and start playing it to people and decide how we’re going to present it first — whether it starts as a smaller show either in the UK or the US… or Canada for sure, why not! Or Australia. I think it would need to start somewhere English-speaking.
I very, very much want to put that out. Of course, the reason it’s taking so long is we get distracted with Duran Duran and other things at the same time. I’m also making a documentary at the moment on post-war Japanese photography which I’ve got to get to editing and then I made five albums with an artist called Wendy Bevan during lockdown [the Astronomia project]. There are only two more of those to come out … and then that will be moved on.
There’s always lots of glass baubles in the air with work but yeah, I hope so, I really hope that comes out, the musical.
The interview was edited for clarity. Future Past is out Oct. 22.